Less than two weeks ago, Sen. Rand Paul's demanded to know whether the president believed he had a right to kill an American citizen on American soil with a drone, finally getting an answer that had to be dragged out Attorney General Eric Holder. An equally important, but still unasked question is whether the president intends to build a federal, drone-based "public safety" force to police local communities.

Somebody had better ask the president about this quickly, because it appears that his administration intends to use drones to actively usurp what were once local police and sheriff's department functions.

Put it all together, and it sure looks like Obama is building the backbone for that national police force he wanted the first time he ran for office.

Worse yet, both Democrats and Republicans are now openly discussing a plan to put all the drones flown in America's skies, including those owned and operated by local police departments, under the ultimate supervision of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, consolidating the country's surveillance and law enforcement powers under one powerful federal police jurisdiction.

According to Wired.com, DHS is now experimenting with how its drones can be used in "first responder, law enforcement and border security scenarios."

The DHS's drones could also be used, Nextgov.com reported, "to support emergency and non-emergency incidents nationwide" and to give the department "situational awareness" in public safety matters or disasters, including forest fires. The department also plans to use its drones, and their attached cameras to surveil and police sporting events, political events and large public gatherings.

The problem with DHS's plans is that many of the above functions used to be handled by local law enforcement without any help from the federal government.

While the intentions here might not be totalitarian, the ultimate outcome could be, especially as more federal and local law enforcement agencies come to rely on drone technology and the federal government begins to police the interior in ways that were unthinkable just 15 years ago, before the Department of Homeland Security - and the use of drone technology -- even existed.

Look for drones to be increasingly looking for regulatory violations from executive agencies like the EPA or to simply eavesdrop on US citizens. It is ironic that the same liberals who rant about how conservatives are going to end privacy by restricting abortions have no problem with a government drone spying on their movements or even peering in thweir windows.

Currently, the US has 16 major intelligence agencies, and over 100 federal police agencies. And because of a relatively new change in the law, non-police federal agencies may now procure and use weapons and even set up their own SWAT-like enforcement teams.

The most notorious use of these so far was when the Department of Education sent a SWAT team to arrest a woman who was in default of her student loan, breaking into the home of her ex-husband, who lived there with their child, but not the woman. The accusation against her was of student loan fraud, for concealing assets that could have been used to pay off her loan. Typically a civil offense.

And credit where credit is due. Though Obama and his bureaucracy are using it, these authoritarian police agencies were for the most part given broad and unconstitutional authorities under George W. Bush, who, while he was correct in taking the War on Terror to our foreign enemies, devoted just as many resources to creating a police state in the US, against its honest citizenry.

It will take decades of concerted action to dismantle this nightmare, and to set up deep constraints on the government against ever doing such things again.

Look at Cyprus. They are confiscating 10% of people’s bank accounts. Is that a sign of what the ultimate goal is here?
The old saying follow the money. We’ve heard that the RATS have been talking about nationalizing 401’s.

And if it was not for the results of the 2010 election and getting obamacare passed taking up more time, they would have done it. They have not forgotten about it, time just ran out on them. Look for it to resurface again when they regain control of both Houses of Congress.

"It will take decades of concerted action to dismantle this nightmare, and to set up deep constraints on the government against ever doing such things again."

I don't think so. As time goes by this will ONLY get worse. Totalitarians don't give up their power a little at a time until it's gone the way once free American's have given up their freedom. Communism can't be undone incrementally. It fails by either total collapse or war.

And credit where credit is due. Though Obama and his bureaucracy are using it, these authoritarian police agencies were for the most part given broad and unconstitutional authorities under George W. Bush, who, while he was correct in taking the War on Terror to our foreign enemies, devoted just as many resources to creating a police state in the US, against its honest citizenry.

Some of the libertarians in this forum warned of this when Bush signed the National Security Act but were generally reviled as un-American.

It is ironic that the same liberals who rant about how conservatives are going to end privacy by restricting abortions have no problem with a government drone spying on their movements or even peering in thweir windows.

Also snooping of internet downloads. Obama has placed Hollywood copyright protection under the domain of HOMELAND SECURITY.

America 2013, stuck on stupid.

It wasn't about "Boosh's policies", the Left's 8 years of temper tantrums was about losing two elections. They have no heartfelt convictions on ANYTHING. They are malleable. They went in the 1930s from protesting AGAINST going to war against Hitler to support (when he betrayed their beloved Joe Stalin) because that's what the daily talking point from on high said their opinion should be. Orwell saw it all first hand.

War. Privacy. "Assault weapons".

I saw a letter from someone saying that if you want to shoot "accurately", you wouldn't use an assault weapon to take out a shooter (the writer was trying to say why such firepower would be dangerous in the hands of civilians, and pose more danger to innocent bystanders than good). So why again do police (and Social Security agents) need such firepower? Won't they be just at risk of accidentally shooting dogs and innocent bystanders?

Recall when numerous bystanders were hit by shrapnel (and stray shots?) last year in NYC from police firepower. The talking points were that it was wrong for those hit to complain or to possibly even sue.

Nation of sheeple. Do as you are told. Don't question liberal authority.

Yesterday evening about 6:30 PM we were exiting I85 at Sugarloaf parkway when the fiancee’ askes me “whats that coming at us, a drone?” I looked and said it was just a helicopter but as it got closer it drifted sideways and I realized it actually was a drone flying right down I85 heading North. It was unbelievable! As it got practically overhead flying at about 500 ft you could clearly see that it was a drone. About 12-15 ft long and it had a rotor but it was way too small to be manned. It was definitely a drone no doubt about it.

They are with us and if we don’t all start raising heck about it they will be flying over us all day everyday spying on every move we make.

29
posted on 03/18/2013 9:08:00 AM PDT
by Georgia Girl 2
(The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)

Check out “Argus” on this 5 minute youtube from PBS Nova. It’s a 1.6 billion pixel UAV camera, can zoom down to 65 spots under the control of ground techs, while still watching an entire city. It’s all stored, so they can go back in time to any minute and see who was where doing what, in recorded video. The entire city, zoom down to anywhere, in real time or in the past. Amazing. Big Brother is coming fast.

actually about a year ago I saw a cop car in our county, not knowing what it was I drove besides it and low and behold there was a sign saying federal police.

Now someone tld me we’ve had them for years but it;s the first time I;ve ever seen them .
I drove behind them for a few miles hoping they would stop at a gas station etc but they neevr but if they had I was going to ask them what exactly was their job and why come here when we have our own police

And credit where credit is due. Though Obama and his bureaucracy are using it, these authoritarian police agencies were for the most part given broad and unconstitutional authorities under George W. Bush, who, while he was correct in taking the War on Terror to our foreign enemies, devoted just as many resources to creating a police state in the US, against its honest citizenry.

You are exactly right! Doofus, dumb-ass, dumber than dirt, GW Bush, laid the groundwork or passed the laws, enabling just about every abuse & atrocity being committed today by 0dumb0 & his fascist gubmint! So in addition to destroying the Repub party and giving us 0dumb0, GW Bush laid the groundwork for a totalitarian dictatorial federal gubmint!

Yes, but he did so for the wrong reasons, resulting in the worst depression (that probably would have happened anyway) until the Great Depression. He insured it would happen by issuing his infamous Specie Circular just before he left office.

What brought the problem in the first place was the success of the Erie canal. Paid for with state bonds, it was finished before schedule and under cost. The bondholders made a fortune.

This gave other states the idea to do the same, but all of their ideas were based on connecting the Ohio river to the Great Lakes. So they issued bonds before asking if it was a feasible project. It wasn’t.

Though the bonds were purchased with dollars, many of those indirectly backing them did so with privately issued currencies from local banks. Their accounts, purchased with dollars, were recorded in the bank’s currency.

Would Jackson have known or cared about this developing crisis? He might have known, but his impulse was to attack the wealth and the major banks, because he hated them as people. This even included his own Democrat vice president, who got blamed for it. He also deeply distrusted the Second Bank of the United States, because as was long suspected in the South, he saw in it the end of slavery.

The Specie Circular, however, in one fell swoop, wiped out thousands of local bankers, their families, and national prosperity by requiring currencies to all be backed by specie. And when the states discovered that they were going to get the brunt of the depression, they all renounced their bond debts.

Some even incorporated into their constitutions that the bond debts would never be repaid, in whole or in part.

...under the control of ground techs, while still watching an entire city. Its all stored, so they can go back in time to any minute and see who was where doing what, in recorded video.

So the problem is not so much the drone itself, but (1) those who give the ground techs their orders and (2) the ground techs and analysts. Find out who they are, where they live and work, how they travel, where they can be found when off duty. They will be among the primary targets when the SHTF.

49
posted on 03/18/2013 11:36:03 AM PDT
by JimRed
(Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.